Nikki K

(* 1481/82 in Rome; † December 1516 or January 1517 in Squillace) was the youngest son of Rodrigo Borgia and Vanozza Cattanei. Like his siblings Cesare, Juan and Lucrezia he was legitimized on August, 6h 1493 when Rodrigo had become Pope Alexander VI. After Joffre's legitimization, both Ascanio Sforza and King Ferrante of Naples suggested alliances by marriage to Alexander Vi. Ascanio Sforza planned to marry an illegitmate Sforza princess to the pope's son. The couple should have then ruled Bologna, which de jure belonged to the papal states but was ruled de facto by Giovanni II Bentivoglio. The option of relieving the Bentivoglio from power and causing an uprising appeared to risky to Alexander VI, furthermore he feared that the Sforza would then gain even more political strength in Northern Italy. Hence he rejected his vice chancellor's offer and went with the Neapolitans. Ferrante needed the pope's help, since after the death of Johanna II. († 1435; Queen of Naples, Jerusalem and Hungary of the French house of Anjou) the succession to the throne of Naples was also claimed by the French. Since Alexander VI also didn't wish the French King Charles VIII to ascend to the Neapolitan throne, he confirmed the legitimacy of the Aragonese kingdom of Naples in March 1494 and had his nephew crown King Alfonso II of Naples after Ferrante's death. The deal included Joffre marrying Sancia, an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso's. They got married in May of the same year. The marriage strengthened the bond between the pope and the King of Naples. Alfonso II gave Joffre and Sancia the principality of Squillace and the county of Cariati. Furtermore Joffre recieved the title of procurator and general of the Neapolitan kingdom and an annual allowance of 10,000 ducats. In return Alexander VI refused to crown Charles VIII, arguing that his sons Juan and Joffre were both at the mercy of the house of Aragon, in Spain and in Sicily respectively. When Charles VIII invaded Italy, Alfonso fled leaving the throne to his short lived son and a long war between Spain, France and their Italian adherent. During this time, the young couple lived mostly at Rome - having been ordered back from Naples in 1496 by the pope due to their excessive and licentious lifestyle - where Sancia allegedly had affairs with both of her husband's elder brothers, Juan and Cesare. In 1497 Alexander VI publicly exonerated Joffre of the murder of his brother Juan because of the many rumours that Joffre was in fact the killer, due to public antagonism between the two over Sancia. When the pope ended his alliance with Naples and had Joffre's brother Cesare marry the French princess Charlotte d'Albret, Joffre barely survived two homocide attempts in February and July 1499 by agitated Roman barons and Aragonese Neapolitans. In 1498 the pope had married Lucrezia to Sancia's brother Alfonso who was now also under duress and fled to Naples, where the pope later banished Sancia too as well while sending both Lucrezia and Joffre to govern Spoleto - separating his children from their spouses. After Alfonso's murder in 1500, Cesare took over Spoleto and Joffre accompanied him on many of his military campaigns. At the beginning of 1503 Joffre led two military campaigns for Cesare - one against the duke of Urbino, another aginst the Orsini. After Alexander VI's death Cesare, Joffre and Vanozza had to flee from Rome. During the War of 1499–1504, when Louis XII of France tried to conquer Naples, Joffre sided with the French, but when he was captured by Prospero Colonna he changed sides to join the Spanish, which caused a rebellion in Alvito. In 1504 he sent the condottiero Fabrizio Colonna to stabilise his lands, partly paid for with money he had appropriated from the papal treasury after the death of his father the year before. With the rebellion crushed in Spring 1504, Cesare and Joffre travelled to Naples where Cesare tried to reconcile Joffre with Sancia who in the meantime had become the mistress of Consalvo di Cordoba. Joffre - asking for time to contemplate - travelled to Spain, where learnt of Sancia's death shortly after. Subsequently he married a distant cousin of his, Maria de Mila, who was a lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon - the first wife of Henry VIII of England. They moved back to Squillace in 1507 where Joffre founded the town 'Borgia' which exists to this day. Joffre and Maria had four children: Francesco, Lucrezia, Antonia and Marina. He also had an illegitimate son who grew up with his mother Vanozza. When Joffre died in 1518, his sister Lucrezia wrote to her sister-in-law Isabella d'Este that Joffre's death had impacted her deeply.



(*1478 in Gaeta – † 1506 in Naples) was an illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples and his mistress Trusia Gazzela. She grew up with her younger brother Alfonso and her half-siblings Isabella, Ferdinand and Piero at the court of Naples where, it is said, their grandfather King Ferrante allowed them all the same education and affections. In 1492 she was betrothed to Onorato Caetani, however this engagement was dissolved in 1494 and Sancia was married to Joffre Borgia, youngest son of Pope Alexander VI. Upon her marriage she and her new husband were created Prince and Princess of Squillace, a province in the south of Italy. Allegedly, Sancha had affairs with both of her husband's older brothers. Her affair with Juan is sometimes said to be the reason for Joffre's alleged murder of his brother in 1497. Sancia's brother Alfonso of Aragon married the Pope's daughter Lucrezia Borgia. Sancia was said to be very close to her sister-in-law. However, in order to secure French support for his military campaigns, Cesare married Charlotte d'Albret, a French princess. This put Cesare's interests in direct conflict with those of the Italian states. Sancia's home city of Naples was no exception, and it had long been nervous about militant French interests. Her brother Alfonso was brutally murdered in 1500 by Micheletto, a servant of Cesare's, as Cesare was jealous of Alfonso's influence over Lucrezia. Sancia herself, now a political embarrassment, was imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome until the death of Pope Alexander in 1503. Upon his death, she managed to regain her freedom by entering an affair with the condottiere Prospero Colonna and Consalvo de Cordoba respectively. As Lucrezia was not allowed to take her son by Alfonso Bisceglie with her to Ferrarra when she married Alfonso D'Este, she left the child in Sancia's care. Sancia returned to Naples with her young nephew, Rodrigo, whom she raised as her own. She died of an undisclosed illness in 1506. Lucrezia's son Rodrigo grew up with his Sancia's sister Isabella who - after being banished from Milan where she had been Duchess until Ludovico Sforza took over after the death of her husband Gian Galeazzo - Sancia had lived with.

(born 23 December 1997) is an English actor who lives in Dorset, UK. Aidan made his television debut in Showtime's The Borgias. He plays Joffre Borgia, starring Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia who becomes Pope Alexander VI. In 2010 he appeared in a Nestle Cereal Commercial.


(born December 10, 1977) is a Canadian film and television actress who was born in Montréal, Québéc, the daughter of Moroccan Jewish immigrants. Emmanuelle attended the drama program at Unionville High School and began acting as a 10-year-old in a McDonald's commercial. She moved to Vancouver in the mid-1990s, guest-starring in various TV series and B-movies. She is perhaps best known for her role on HBO's Entourage as Sloan McQuewick, as well as the love interest of Adam Sandler in the movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan. In May 2010, she topped the AskMen.com 'Most Desirable Women of 2010' list and won the Standout Performance Trophy at the Young Hollywood Awards.




Let's be honest, I opened this thread out of boredom. Hope you don't mind and perhaps we can discuss some more or less burning questions like

- Was she gentle, was she kind?
- Did Joffre have Juan killed because of her?
- And where the hell is Squillace anyway?

Any takers? I'm here all week!

red velvet

I'm always up for a new thread. And admittedly looking just on the main board I was a bit confused wondering if it were a shipper thread or what

And some good questions to get a discussion started off! I'll have to come back in here at a moment when I my mind is in fully-funcitoning order

Nikki K

I'm not too sure about the shipping yet. Perhaps if I read a good fanfic or let's see what next season brings. I read though that Joffre was quite in love with Sancia. Impressible young mind and all.. I mean there were boobs. Aaaaanyway.

In all fairness, I do know where Squillace is, I think I actually drove through once on the way to Sicily.

So yes, let's get on the more delicate questions once you're awake.

Nikki K

The Prince and Princess of Squillace... in the making. (Both not really looking sure what they are doing there but doing it anyway. I like the wedding dress though. Kudos to the costume department!)

red velvet

It's still crazy to me just how much younger than he is than her. But I mean I guess as long as the parts work that's all that really matters, right?

Nikki K

I wonder how many years apart they were in real life. Over all, it might be a case of - girls mature more quickly in their early teens than boys do? But yes, I agree, the way it was depicted on the show was quite crass. He was such a cute little boy just trying to help his father find sleep at night by agreeing to marry whoever. It must have been quite overwhelming. I felt a bit of sadness when I watched that scene where he sat on his bed, seemingly nervous and so unsure what to do with that whole wedding night thing.

red velvet

It does make me wonder what the real story of the situation was and I suppose it could have been that she was only 17 or something and he's like 13 and that kind of gap could potentially make for the big difference. But even still it makes me feel for him that he's just so innocent and she's not, I think that makes the age gap seem even greater

Nikki K

Looked it up: Like you said she was 16, he was 13 when they got married. Ten years later that wouldn't have been such a grave age gap, I suppose. Unfortunately they didn't live long enough to find that out.

red velvet

Yeah if they were to live long lives that wouldn't be any sort of big deal at all but when you're a teenager that's a lot of time

Nikki K

All in all, I think Rodrigo picked someone in Sancia who he couldn't control as he controlled his children. Must have made him want to eat his fringe.

red velvet

She seems like a willful person. I think though that it would be hard for him to have been able to control anyone he married his children off to in the same way that he controlled them

Nikki K

Frankly, in the long run nobody seemed to be very much on board with Rodrigo's wishes and decisions apart from Juan maybe.

red velvet

Well he did seem to have a unique vision of things and wanted to keep everyone manipulated to do it. That doesn't often go over very well

Nikki K

No kidding. I had an idea for a fanfic to that regard but then, I never wrote anything for my favourite ships as I was too worried I'd mess it up.

Oh, btw - another wiki-gem: Long after Cesare's affaire with Sancia had ended and she was the mistress of some political figure, Cesare tried to reconcile Sancia and Joffre. The latter asked to think about it and decide after his return from his travels to Spain. Sadly, while he was there, he got news that Sancia had died. Yeah, bummer. I think he married some Borgia relative then and moved back to Squillace.

Nikki K

No kidding. I had an idea for a fanfic to that regard but then, I never wrote anything for my favourite ships as I was too worried I'd mess it up.

Oh, btw - another wiki-gem: Long after Cesare's affaire with Sancia had ended and she was the mistress of some political figure, Cesare tried to reconcile Sancia and Joffre. The latter asked to think about it and decide after his return from his travels to Spain. Sadly, while he was there, he got news that Sancia had died. Yeah, bummer. I think he married some Borgia relative then and moved back to Squillace.